A proposed 85-acre development off Indrio Road and Russakis Road in St. Lucie County is moving closer to reality, but not without pushback from neighbors who say it will transform the area\u2019s rural character.<\/p>\n
The project, called Indrio Town Center, would bring a mix of commercial and retail space \u2014 and possibly residential units \u2014 to land near Interstate 95. On June 18, county planning and zoning unanimously recommended rezoning the land from agricultural to planned retail workplace. County commissioners are expected to vote on the rezoning in August.<\/p>\n
WATCH BELOW: Neighbors push back on 85-acre St. Lucie County development<\/p>\n
Susan Lewis has lived near the proposed site for 15 years, running a farm rescue on a property that has been in her family for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have dogs that have 10 acres to run around. I have horses that have 10 acres to run around. I have pigs. I mean, we.. it\u2019s just.. it\u2019s going away. It\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis said the development would surround her property and worsen existing conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be surrounded,\u201d said Lewis. \u201cI think it\u2019s wrong. I think that there\u2019s plenty of other places for them to build.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposed development is 447,250 square feet of commercial, retail and possible residential space across more than 85 acres \u2014 that area is equivalent to more than 48 FIFA-standard soccer pitches.<\/p>\n
County Planning and Zoning Manager Kori Benton told WPTV Treasure Coast reporter Tyler Hatfield the land is part of a planned design area called Town, Villages and Countryside, along with 14,000 other acres of land in St. Lucie County.<\/p>\n
Benton said this land was anticipated to transition from traditional legacy agricultural or citrus uses to development and will help avoid urban sprawl.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an overlay district that\u2019s trying to allow for tactful development and new communities that embrace the county\u2019s rural character, maintain lands for open space and agricultural activities,\u201d said Benton. \u201cIt allows for that development very strategically, that considers compatibility and how it\u2019s integrated into both the county\u2019s need for infrastructure, need for quality of life, jobs, and also connectivity to our interstate and roadway system.\u201d<\/p>\n
WPTV also spoke to Leah Heinzelmann from Cotleur and Hearing, who is representing the property owners and developer Glassman Holdings LLC.<\/p>\n
Heinzelmann said the development will also include open green space and an over 26-acre park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe design of it incorporates a lot of open space, really keeping that native buffer along Indrio Road,\u201d Heinzelmann said.<\/p>\n
Lewis told Hatfield she\u2019s worried this development will change the rural landscape in St. Lucie County.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe moved here for a reason; this is why we do what we do,\u201d said Lewis. \u201cWe like to be in the wilderness. This is old Florida. This is what Florida used to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rezoning still needs approval from county commissioners in August.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and portions have been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A proposed 85-acre development off Indrio Road and Russakis Road in St. Lucie County is moving closer to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-336407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}